1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a recording control arrangement for a dot recording machine. Such an arrangement may find application particularly, although not exclusively, in printing machines of the so-called dot-printing kind, in which a character is printed by printing a set of dots lying within a matrix.
2. Description of the Prior art
Dot recording machines generally have a recording medium which may take either the form of a strip or sheet of paper or the form of a rotary drum or endless belt on the surface of which a series of sensitized point zones can be formed by electrostatic or magnetic means. These zones are capable of attracting a powdered developing pigment which is then transferred to a carrier sheet. To enable a series of dots, forming predetermined images such as characters, to be recorded on this medium, at least one recording member is provided having one or more recording units. Depending upon the type of machine, these units are formed by printing styli, punches, electrodes, ink-jet nozzles or magnetic recording heads. The recording member and the recording medium are moved in relation to one another in a known fashion in a predetermined direction of movement. Printing machines of this kind are known. For example, one such machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,551. The printing machine described in the afore-noted patent is capable of so-called line by line printing, i.e. printing where characters on a line are only printed when the printing of the characters lying on the previous line has been completed.
In column by column printing, in order to print a text containing a certain number of lines, each of the printing heads prints, in the course of one and the same pass, the same number of characters as there are lines to be printed. Thus, in the course of the first pass, a head prints the first characters of the words lying on the different lines. In the course of the second pass, the head prints the second characters of the words situated on the various lines, and so on.
When an operator causes a text to be printed by a machine using either the line by line method of printing or the column by column method, the text presented on the recipient paper strip at the conclusion of printing is always orientated in the same direction, i.e. the lines in the printed text are always parallel to the lengthwise direction of the strip. Because there are limits on how wide the strip can be, it is therefore impossible, with this machine, to print texts or statements containing a very large number of lines.